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1.1.4-Lovethefutureisthine
Brick!Club- Wraxall,1.1.4 Since there was a little bit of conversation about comparison between translations for the chapter title and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one reading Wraxall here, mine has the title as “Works Resembling Words”. So after I get through the bishop’s little bit of sass at the beginning, what’s the first thing I see? MOMMY ISSUES AGAIN. The Countess is being annoying by talking about her kids so much, but it’s “innocent and pardonable” because it’s a “maternal display.” Maybe being a mother doesn’t automatically make you a saint (because see the Thénardiess), but it certainly makes you at least tolerable in Hugo’s book. Once again, we see Hugo talking about Myriel being able to communicate with EVERYONE (speaking all those dialects), because Hugo seems to think that the more traditional church does not. “He told him murderer the best truths, which are the most simple.” We also see mention of the clergy needing to be more human again. Immediately following the ‘truths’ quote, Hugo says “He Myriel was father, brother, friend- bishop only to bless.” I think my favorite Myriel joke in this chapter is the “ex- sinner” bit. It’s almost like he’s poking fun at the gossip praising and criticizing him all at once. Myriel asking where the prosecuting attorney will be tried (which isn’t really a joke) is a close second. I liked the rest of this chapter, but I didn’t really have a lot to say in my annotations nor do I when skimming it again… Also yayyy education popping up again- the bit about the guilty party in a sinning party is not whom who did not know better, but whom who did not teach is one of my favorite parts of the whole Bishop section. We start to get discussion about human law vs. divine law. (Amazing how so much brought up in the first couple chapters alone are going to come back again and again, huh?) Human law can only dictate so much, and only be so correct, because it was created by very flawed people. “The least possible amount of sin is the law of man; no sin at all is the dream of angels.” “The phantom of social justice haunted Myriel.” “Death belongs to God alone. By what right do men touch that unknown thing?” I tore this chapter apart with highlighting, but here are just a few of the ones I thought were important: "It is a fall, but a fall on the knees, which may end in prayer." "To be a saint is the exception, to be a just man is the rule. Err, fail, sin, but be just. The least possible amount of sin is the law of man: no sin at all is the dream of angels." "Teach the ignorant as much as you possibly can; society is culpable for not giving instruction gratis, and is responsible for the night it produces. This soul is full of darkness, and sin is committed, but the guilty person is not the man who commits the sin, but he who produces the darkness." "As we see, he had a strange manner, peculiarly his own, of judging things. I suspect that he obtained it from the Gospels.” (Hardee har har I like this book a WHOOOOOOOLE lot more now that I’ve developed some sass too) "I did not believe that it death penalty was so monstrous. It is wrong to absorb one’s self in the divine law so far as no longer to perceive the human law. Death belongs to God alone. By what right do men touch that unknown thing?" ^This one especially intrigues me. We clearly know that the Bishop has given his life to totally serve God. Obviously it is important to know the teachings of God- but part of being in the clergy is to bring the teachings of God to the people, which requires that you know how the people think. Myriel believes he has failed on that account, and owns up to it. I appreciate that. He could have made excuses. "What an admirable consoler he was! He did not try to efface grief by oblivion, but to aggrandize and dignify it by hope."